BROAD-LEAVED EVERGREENS 167 



and azaleas, and I believe we can reproduce it with joyous results. 

 The example we should follow is illustrated by the Rhododendron 

 Dell at Kew (see plates 64 and 65), and the gardens of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society, or by the Vale of Cashmere in Pros- 

 pect Park, Brooklyn, N. Y. The first principle is to get a little 

 ravine or valley, so that we may enjoy the rhododendrons both 

 from above and below. Then let there be a path following the 

 natural contours, so that every one may see the whole show with- 

 out retracing steps or being plagued by a maze. By this method 

 there will be a new picture every two or three steps. Next observe 

 that all the shrubs which bloom before the leaves look best against 

 an evergreen background; therefore put your azaleas chiefly in front 

 and rhododendrons chiefly in the back. Finally, arrange the 

 "magenta crowd" by themselves, and nine tenths of the colour 

 discords will be avoided. By "magenta crowd" I mean all 

 the colours derivable from purple, e. g., lavender, crimson-pink, 

 mauve, light and dark purple, and crimson. These colours give 

 exquisite effects in a bed by themselves. The other colours will 

 usually take care of themselves. A collection of one hundred 

 varieties arranged on such a plan would be a joy unspeakable. 



Instead of such collections we seem to prefer mass effects. 

 But too often we dump down car loads in a flat place near the 

 entrance to an estate, wipe out all other vegetation, and jam the 

 rhododendrons together in such a way that visitors think only of 

 the cost. We ought rather to aim at great landscape pictures 

 like the one at Deepdene, and any one may reproduce the spirit of 

 that famous spectacle provided he owns a valley about a quarter of 

 a mile long, with its banks crowned by tall trees. 



But most Americans who plant rhododendrons on a great scale 

 simply scatter them in their woods. A better idea is represented 



